How does my attention, the time I spend reading news.ycombinator.com, pay for the site? I DON'T run an ad blocker, but I am not watching any ads here.
HN is a recruitment tool for Y Combinator. Someone is paying for it with their attention.
Did you think they are running it out of the goodness of their heart?
HN regularly runs ads for YC companies. https://news.ycombinator.com/jobguide.html